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Disclaimer

The hair tips, advice and recommendations given on this blog are given based on the experiences of the authors. These tips may not work for everyone and every hair type and it is important to acknowledge this since we are neither hair specialists nor trichologists.


Also many pictures on this blog belong to the authors but there are others that we do not have ownership for and thus we do not claim ownership of the ones that do not belong to us.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas everyone!

We wish you a merry Christmas and a very happy holiday season from O'Naturals. Enjoy and keep it natural!
O'Naturals

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Do you hear what I hear?

Of course you do! Nobody can hide from the Christmas carols and songs on TV, radio, in the stores and all around. We started out in November by asking "Is that a Christmas carol I hear?" to now wondering why some radio stations are not playing enough Christmas music. Well ... some people are probably tired of the songs BUT NOT ME! I have been listening to Christmas music since November. Say what you like but I thoroughly enjoy Christmas. Thoroughly.

Thank God for Jesus Christ who is the reason why we celebrate Christmas. Without Jesus Christ we would be hopeless. Thank you God! Thank you God!

Since I have my radios tuned permanently to a station that plays Christmas music, there are some songs that I am enjoying. It is hard to pick favourites so I'll just say I really really like the following songs:

Go tell it on the mountain
Joy to the world
O Holy night
Feliz Navidad
Christmas must be something more

There is one song that makes me turn up the radio and sing along. The song is "I wanna be your Christmas" by Andrew Allen - a Canadian from Vernon, British Columbia. The chorus is:

"I wanna be the 12 days wrapped in one/I wanna be your drummer boy/parum pum pum pum/I wanna be the egg nog in your rum/ I wanna be/ I wanna be the lone star that you see/I wanna be the partridge in your tree/I wanna know that Christmas just ain't Christmas without me"

I looooove the "drummer boy" line and it makes me smile all the time. Never-the-less I remember that Christmas just ain't Christmas without Jesus.

Omozo

Monday, December 21, 2009

Bangs anyone?


Once upon a time, I had bangs. Have any of you ever had bangs with your natural hair? Do you have pictures? If you do please send it in (o.naturals@gmail.com) and we will post it on the blog. I would love to see other naturals with bangs. Thanks

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

'Tis the season ...

Christmas day is almost here and everywhere is buzzing. People are talking about family, friends, gifts, food, parties, getting days off work and on and on. IT IS CHRISTMAS! The radio stations are playing Christmas songs and some are playing Christmas songs all day every day.

And then we wonder "what do I do with my hair for ...?" It could be an office party or a family gathering or a Christmas wedding or any Christmas function that you may be attending. The question still remains "what do I with my hair?"

There are many options for hairstyles and as we always say on this blog BE CREATIVE. Don't limit yourself - have fun with your hair. No matter what you do, please remember to keep your hair moisturized, hydrated and healthy. The healthier the hair, the nicer the hairstyle.

Here are some hairstyles you may try this Christmas.



You can wear this style to a Christmas party with your family or at a friend's house. It is playful and fun. I achieved this hairstyle by taking out my week old twists. Shake your hair a little for your hair to fall as it pleases. For people with short hair, shaking your hair might give you a headache which will make you not enjoy your party. So use your hands to fluff out your hair. Add dangling diamond (or something that looks "diamondy") earrings to give yourself a hint of "playful glamour".




Wear this to your work Christmas party. Wear it to work for the day. Then for the party change accessories and add some make-up and you are ready to rumba!

To get this hairstyle: twist your hair with two strand twists. Then put the twists into bantu knots or china bumps. I kept my hair in twists and bantu knots over the weekend for a tighter curl. Then take out the knots and the twists and sweep in the sides. Add some "wow" by using a nice shiny hair jewel like a hair comb or some shiny hair pins / clips if you are having an evening office party.










The style below can be worn to a Christmas wedding. Now if you are in the wedding party, I recommend you wear a hairstyle the bride agrees to. Showing up with your own unauthorized/unapproved hairstyle may cause a little wedding day drama. It is Christmas so do your best to avoid the drama! Getting this style is easy.

For this style, I rinsed out my twist-out . Stand under the shower for about 30 seconds and don't use your hands to massage your hair. Just let the water run through the old twists. Or pour about 3 bowls of water over your old twists and you get the style. Then put in some accessories and you are ready to witness a couple become man and wife.


So you see, you have options. It is your hair so have fun and be creative.


Omozo.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The head scarf

I confess that I have been in a hair slump for the last few weeks. In fact, I have been in an all round slump. I'll do a weekend post on how to manage those times in life when you generally feel "blah". You know those times when you are just going through the motions and nothing really seems exciting...

But anyway, back to hair. Since I have been been feeling so "blah" lately, I have generally stopped styling my hair. In fact, I have been wearing a scarf for weeks now. My dad asked me yesterday, why I was wearing a head scarf. If my dad noticed then it means I have been wearing a scarf for a long time.



Even though I have been wearing a scarf I have tried not to neglect my hair. I still try to wash weekly and moisturize my hair every other day. Now I have resulted to spraying my hair with a little water and moisturizing with Castor oil or shea butter. I am especially worried about the front of my hair because I wear cotton scarfs. So I make sure I spray water on the front of my hair morning and night and rub some castor oil or shea butter on it. When I had a satin bonnet I would wear the satin bonnet over my hair before wearing the cotton scarf.

And Nigerians are famous for the gele. Here is a picture of me wearing a gele I tied all by myself. I am so proud of me.




This youtube video helped me when I was learning how to tie a gele



And a shout out to one of my favorite actresses ever! Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi. She often wears a head scarf.



Friday, December 4, 2009

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

I have raved and raved about The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. I have recommended it to every one I know who enjoys reading. I am recommending it again. It is the best book I have read in a while. The Book of Negroes has a different title in the USA and in Australia and New Zealand. It is known as "Somebody Knows my name" in those countries. Why? I don't know! I hear it has something to do with "literary politics".

The book follows Aminata Diallo, a young woman kidnapped and sold into slavery. She is taken from the continent of Africa, to North Carolina, to Canada, back to Africa and then to England. Aminata knows how to "catch babies" and she can read. A slave who reads? She uses her skills in her struggle to stay alive. She just wants to go home! Read the book to know more.

But this post is not about the book. It is about Aminata's hair. I don't remember the author describing her hair (correct me if I am wrong) and so I wondered what would her hair have looked like. What hairstyles would this girl and woman have worn? What challenges did she face regarding her hair as she was fighting to stay alive and "traveling" from place to place?

Here are my thoughts on it. I think when she was home before her kidnapping; she wore lovely corn-rows with bantu knots at the end of each row. Maybe she even had some dried and dyed raffia strands adorning her hair for special occasions. I think she also wrapped her hair in thread sometimes.








On the slave ships she probably kept her hair in big braids. I am sure the conditions on the slave ships did allow her be too fussy with her hair. Maybe she even experienced significant hair loss because of the stress and poor diet. It is possible that her hair may have started knotting into locs.

In North Carolina, I think she may have tried to recover her hair. Maybe she picked/combed out the locs so that she could have her hair out again. I think she may have had her hair in big corn-rows. Perhaps she even tried twists for the first time because of her interaction with people from the Caribbean.

Maybe at one point she wore a teeny-weenie afro because she could not be bothered with too much hair maintenance.




I wonder what hair moisturizer she used? Coconut oil? I think that when she went back to Africa, she either wore afro-puffs or nice and neat corn-rows.




As she aged, I think she may have cut her hair and the grey strands would be peeking out more and more. I think she probably kept her hair in a teeny-weenie afro and allowed her grey hair to pepper her head nicely. And anytime she looked in the mirror, she smiled because her hair was free and so was she!

For more information on the book go to Lawrence Hill's website. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.


Omozo